The Boy Who Disappeared

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2000

"Jake, how was your fishing trip?" Hadrian asked as he and Bella walked with Jake along the beach at La Push.

"It was all right, we do it all the time. I am so jealous that you guys got to go to New York," Jake huffed. Hadrian grinned.

"Maybe we can go another time and take you with us," Bella said. Hadrian nodded in agreement.

The three of them were walking down the beach and pausing every once in a while to skip rocks. Bella walked in her usual place right between the two boys. The three of them had been friends for so many years now that being together was just natural.

She kinda of really hated it that they went to three different schools. She kind of wished that even just Hadrian and Jake could go to school together. But Hadrian couldn't go to school on the reservation and Jake's dad wouldn't let him go to school off the reservation.

"Yeah, that would be pretty cool," Jake replied.

There was a loud cheer and then Hadrian and Jake were both tackled to the ground on either side of Bella. She laughed when there was suddenly a giant pile of preteen boys rolling around on the beach wrestling. Bella just stood next to Leah, Emily, and Jake's older sisters. They laughed and shook their heads at the antics of the boys.

"Come on. Let's keep walking. They will catch up. The elders should be getting ready to start the bonfire soon," Leah stated. Bella nodded and kept walking with the girls. You could never tell how long it would take the boys to get tired of rough housing. She would be super surprised if at least one of them didn't end up in the water.

"Who wants to bet on how many of them end up in the water before they are finished?" Emily asked the others. Just then a splash and a yell were heard and they all giggled.

"I say they all end up in the water and it takes Sam and the threat of getting Billy and Regulus before they all get out," Bella offered.

"Oh, that sounds like a big possibility I am going with that too," said Rachel, Jake's oldest sister. Rebecca nodded her agreement.

"I bet Hadrian was the first one in. He seems to be their favorite to target first," Leah said with a laugh. The rest gave their agreement just as they heard Sam yell at the boys to get out of the water. They all dissolved into laughter at how predictable they all were.

"Now, what is it that you girls find so funny?" Billy asked.

"How predictable the boys all are," Rebecca told her father. He laughed as well as some of the other adults that were busy cooking for the tribe and guests.

Tonight was going to be another tribe meeting and storytelling. Bella loved it and she knew that Hadrian did too. It was a night that they always looked forward to on the reservation. She only had a little over a week left before she had to leave for school.

"Well, boys will be boys. They can't help but be predictable," Charlie called out from where he was manning the grill with Remus. Cassy and Cori came running up tugging on Bella and the other girls to come and play with them. Which is what they were doing when all of the boys showed up soaking wet and grinning like loons.

"Who went in first?" Bella called out. Hadrian grumbled and all of the girls laughed.

"So, Hades then," Leah confirmed. "I knew it."

"Yeah well, I think they just pick on me because I am the only one that doesn't live on the reservation," Hadrian said with a pout.

"We have to keep you pale faces from getting too comfortable around here," Embry teased and threw an arm around Hadrian's shoulders.

"I can't help it that I am pale, look at my dads," Hadrian grumbled as the others laughed at him. "I couldn't tan if my life depended on it."

"We will just blame your fancy old blood for the fact that you can't tan," Jake said with a grin. Hadrian and the others laughed.

"You do realize that we have the same fancy old blood right? Your great-grandpa was a pale face from England. He was brothers with my great great uncle," Hadrian pointed out.

"Oh, he has you there Jake," Quill teased.

"All right everyone. It is time to eat. Make a plate and settle around the fire," One of the elders called.

They all did exactly that, but not without having to break up at least five wrestling matches between the boys. They listened to more Quileute stories well into the evening. Bella and Hadrian convinced their Dads to let them pop a tent in Billy's yard and camp out with Jake to spend more time together. The three of them spent the next week with each other at all times. They took turns spending the nights at each other's houses.

August twenty-sixth arrived and with it so did Bella's mom. Charlie picked her up from the airport and brought her to his home. She would be staying the night in Forks with them and then all of them would leave by floo to New York Grand Central Station so that Bella could catch the train to Ilvermorny. Hadrian and Jake were pretty sad that it was her last night in town and she would be spending it with Charlie and Renee instead of them.

Hadrian was up bright and early the next day with Regulus and Severus. Only the three of them would be going with Bella, Charlie, and Renee to the train station. Just after breakfast, they arrived at the house and Bella double-checked all of her things with Hadrian while the adults talked.

"You have to write me every day, okay? Make new friends but remember that Jake and I are your best friends. Tell me all about what the school is like," Hadrian told Bella for like the four hundredth time.

"I will write you every day Hades, you make sure to write me too. No one will ever replace you and Jake. I will write you all about school, but you have to keep me up with what is going on in town and keep an eye on my Dad for me ok?" Bella countered. Hadrian smiled sadly.

"I always hate this part of the Summer. I am going to miss you, Bells," Hadrian said and he and Bella hugged.

"Gonna miss you too, Hades," Bella told him.

"All right you two, it is time to go. We want to give Bella time to board the train and find a place to sit without rushing," Regulus called to the kids.

The group of six flooed straight to the platform with the waiting train and Bella and Hadrian looked around in wonder. There were so many kids rushing around, some were crying, some were bouncing excitedly it was amazing and Hadrian, not for the first time, was jealous that he wouldn't get to go.

"I really wish I was going with you. It would be so much fun to do this together. We could have spent so much more time together," Hadrian sighed. Bella hugged him again before turning to her parents. She hugged them both and Renee cried, and Charlie looked like he was working hard not to.

"This is going to be so much fun. Everything is going to be fine. I promise to write everyone and stay out of trouble," Bella told them all. They all said their goodbyes and Charlie helped Bella load her trunk. Then they all waited for the train to leave. Bella stuck halfway out her car window and waved and called out more goodbyes as the train pulled away.

"All right let's get out of here and head back to the house," Regulus told them as the train pulled out of sight.

"Regulus, do you think that you could set up floo access at my house in Florida?" Renee asked when they got back to the house. "It will just make things a bit easier, and it will be helpful in the event of an emergency."

"That should be fine, Renee. I can take you down to the Ministry building in Seattle today if you like and fill out all of the proper paperwork so that it is a legal floo and you can properly connect it to the network. A ministry worker can come and set it up for you or my brother Sirius can do it. He is actually quite good at it," Regulus to her.

"Thank you, that would be wonderful. I don't know why I never asked before instead of wasting money on plane rides back and forth," Renee laughed.

"We just assumed, when you didn't ask, that you didn't want one set up for you. Charlie chose not to have one set up in his home so that there was no chance of an accident with him being Sheriff. Bella is going to send all of Charlie's mail here as well so that he won't receive anything by owl in the middle of town. We didn't even think to ask you what you would prefer," Regulus apologized.

"Oh, it's ok. No big deal. We don't actually talk all that often after all," Renee waved away Regulus' apology.

"Well, I've got to head to work. I will talk to you boys later. Renee, the house isn't locked so you can get your things whenever you are ready to head home," Charlie said his goodbyes and left the house.

"Hadrian, are you going to go with us?" Regulus asked. "Papa has to head to work as well. He is going to be interviewing new apprentices today. You can come with me and Renee to the ministry, you can go with Papa to the shop and get started on your potions work, or you can head over and hang out with Uncle Mooney and the twins today. Your choice?"

"I wanna go with, Papa. The more of my assignments that I start working on before school starts the more ahead I will be. I have already been working on a few of my other assignments," Hadrian decided.

He couldn't take his puppies with him, but Kreacher would look after them while he was gone. He ran upstairs and grabbed his potion textbook a quill and parchment. His Papa had already set him up an area in his shop strictly for brewing school assignments. His potion kit was already set up there. The only thing he would carry back and forth was his textbook.

The group flooed over to the apothecary. Regulus and Renee headed to the ministry and Hadrian waited patiently for his papa to give him his first assignment to work on while he conducted interviews to find his third apprentice. Since Kira had gotten her master's and started working at Ilvermorny, Severus had been swamped with applications from students who had graduated and wanted to pursue a master's in potions. He had quite a few applications to go through and more than a few options that he was interested in.

His first potion assignment was to brew a boil removing potion. Hadrian figured that potions was going to be one of his easiest classes. He had the advantage of having a potion master for a father. He spent a lot of time when growing up, brewing with his Papa.

So, Hadrian set to work brewing his simple potion while Severus kept an eye on him and did his interviews. When he was finished, Severus checked the potion and then praised Hadrian for a job well done and had him bottle them all up and label them so that they could be donated to the clinic down the alley.

Hadrian was quite proud of himself and only grumbled a little at the homework assignments he was given. Severus handed him a paper that had every assignment that he would have due before Winter break and every potion that he was going to be responsible for successfully brewing by then as well.

Hadrian was going to be allowed to work at his own pace for all of his homeschooled work. Severus and the others had all gotten together and set up a schedule for each subject and made out the lists for him. As long as all of the assignments were completed before Winter Break he was good to go. He could either turn them in as he finished them or turn them in all at once at the end of the term.

Then at the beginning of the break, he would go to the ministry to take the mid-terms for each course. After his papers had been graded by his parents they would be delivered to the educational department of the ministry so that someone could go over them and make sure that everything was graded fairly and then put it in his files.

He would do the same thing again for the second term of the year. He would be given an assignment schedule in each subject and have them completed by Summer break. He would go and take his finals and then submit his graded paperwork. The ministry would send his results a week or so later letting him know whether or not he would be allowed to successfully move on to the next year's work.

Hadrian struggled a bit at first learning to juggle muggle schoolwork and magical school work but a month later he had set himself a routine that he stuck to and it made life easier for him. He, Bella, and Jake wrote to each other every day but only sent their letters off once a week so that they would not tire out the owls.

Sirius had an idea that would make it easier for them to talk to each other, but he wasn't telling what it was right now. He said it would make a good birthday gift and it would give him enough time to tweak it a bit and make sure that it worked.

And so a routine was established and Hadrian was happy to write Bella and let her know that he was made passing grades at muggle school and his magical work when Winter break rolled around. Bella was also proud to announce that she had also passed her mid-terms and was doing really well with her classes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2002

The routine continued for Hadrian, Bella, and Jacob. They would all write to each other about school and Bella came the week of Hadrian's birthday and stayed until it was time to go back to school. Nothing in their routine changed until it was time for Bella's visit the year Harry turned thirteen. Which meant that the second year had ended, and the third year would be starting.

After Hadrian's party when Bella had been there for a week, she told Hadrian that she had met a friend in school who lived in Seattle.

"So, your new friend is going to be staying at Charlie's house with you for a week?" Hadrian asked.

"Yeah, her parents are dentists, and they have a convention or something that they have to go to and she didn't want to go with them. So, they agreed to let her come and stay with me. You aren't mad are you?" Bella asked cautiously.

"Of course, I'm not mad Bella. She is your friend, and you should be able to hang out with all of your friends. You just need to make sure that she knows who she can and can't talk about magic around," Hadrian told his long-time friend.

He was a bit jealous that Bella would have to split her time with them, but he understood that it was just part of life. Bella was bound to make new friends, and Hadrian was happy for her. Plus, it would be neat to get to hang out with more Wixen his age, because right now, he only really knew Bella.

"She will be here tomorrow. I want to bring her over to visit after she settles in at my house. Is that OK?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, bring her over. We will have a blast. Then we can take her to meet Jake on the reservation the next day. He invited us to come and spend the afternoon swimming and hanging out," Hadrian replied.

"Awesome, then I am going to go home so that Dad and I can make sure that everything is ready for her to come over. See you tomorrow Hades," Bella hugged Hadrian and then she was heading off on her bike back home. Hadrian let his dad know so that he could send Charlie a message letting him know that Bella had left so that he knew when to start looking for her to get home.

"Dad, Bella has a friend from school coming to stay with her for a week. She wants to bring her over to hang out tomorrow is that ok?" Hadrian asked Regulus.

"Of course, it's ok, Hadrian. Did she tell you anything about her?" Regulus asked. Hadrian shook his head.

"No, only that she met her at school and they became friends this last year. She lives in Seattle with her parents who are dentists. They have to go out of town for a bit, so Bella invited her friend to stay with her at Charlie's. She didn't tell me her name," Hadrian told his dad.

He sat down on the floor and leaned against Toga while he petted Kimi. The dogs were just a bit over two years old now and were massive. They were both still solid snow white and fluffy. They stood taller than Hadrian's hips when they were on all fours and when they stood on their back legs they were taller than Hadrian.

They were extremely well-behaved and always prowled the property at night before bed and slept in Hadrian's room at night. They were trained now to walk next to Hadrian when they went for walks together and Hadrian was convinced that they were smart enough to understand anything he said to them.

Toga and Kimi were extremely loyal and protective of Hadrian and his cousins when they were around. Hadrian had never regretted picking them. They drew a lot of attention at first in town when they had first become full grown but now everyone was used to them. They were almost massive enough for Hadrian to ride them if he wanted to. Which he hadn't attempted yet.

"Oh, well if her parents are dentists then she is probably muggle-born. She and Bella probably have a lot in common. That's good that she found someone to relate to at school. Some of the best friendships are formed that way," Regulus stated. Hadrian must have made a face because Regulus chuckled. "Their friendship will never be able to beat the closeness that you two have from growing up together."

"Dad she gets to be with her new friend almost all year round. I only get to see Bella for a month every year. They will definitely form a better friendship. That's ok though Jake and I have become much better friends in the last year. I can't tell him about magic, but he and I are together all of the time now. I would probably say that Jake and I are better friends than Bella and I. We are together more and since we are both boys we have more in common to talk about," Hadrian told his dad. It was true. He and Jake had actually been spending a lot more time together.

"Well then, it looks like supper is getting close to done. Why don't you take the Inu out for a run. You can ride your broom so that they can get their exercise chasing you around. I will send your Papa out to get you when it is time to come in," Regulus suggested.

The best way to get Hadrian's mind off things was to put him on a broom. He was a great flier, and Regulus was a bit upset that Hadrian would never get to play quidditch for a school team. He would have been a great seeker just like Regulus had been in school.

"Sounds good, Dad. Come on, guys let's go out and play," Hadrian jumped up and the Inu followed suit.

Hadrian pressed a quick kiss to his dad's cheek in thanks for suggesting the distraction and grabbed his broom on his way out the door, followed by his two massive guardians. Tomorrow will be interesting. Hadrian was going to make sure that Bella's new friend felt welcome because it would make Bella happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day Hadrian was out in the yard running with Toga and Kimi when Charlie dropped off Bella and a girl with bushy brown hair. The girl spotted Hadrian and his Inu and paused. Hadrian could hear Bella telling her that it was fine.

"I know they look intimidating, but they are really just push-overs," Hadrian said with a grin as he shoved Toga to prove a point.

He had learned a long time ago that his Inu enjoyed to rough-house with him. Bella came forward confidently and petted both Inu. They greeted her with licks and that seemed to be enough for the girl to decide it was fine. Hadrian waved bye to Charlie as he pulled out of the driveway.

"This is Hermione, she moved to Seattle from London. Hermione this is Hadrian. His family is from England as well. But Hadrian grew up here," Bella introduced them.

"It's nice to meet you, Hermione," Hadrian said extending his hand. The girl smiled brightly and shook his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, too. Bella talks about you all the time. I swear I know everything about you already," Hermione said and Bella blushed. "Well, you and a boy named Jacob. There is a bit of a bet between us girls at school as to which of you she is dating." Hadrian laughed.

"Well, it isn't me, I don't fancy girls," Hadrian told her with a grin. "Even if I did like girls, Bella is like a sister to me and dating would be weird."

"Then it must be Jacob. Because of the way she gushes about the two of you, there is no way that she doesn't like one of you," Hermione said. Hadrian loved how sure the girl was.

"Oh, stop it, Mione," Bella said with an even brighter blush. Hadrian shared a look with Hermione.

"Guess, you were right. Jake, it is," Hadrian said and then dodged a smack aimed for him. "We are going to take you to the reservation to meet him tomorrow."

"For now, how about I introduce you to my dads? They like to know who is roaming around the property. I was raised here from a baby, so I don't know anything about England, but my dads were born and raised there. They both went to Hogwarts," Hadrian told Hermione.

"Oh, Hermione went to Hogwarts her first year before they moved here. She was in Gryffindor," Bella said excitedly. Hadrian laughed.

"My dads were both in Slytherin. But both of my uncles were in Gryffindor," Hadrian told her. "It makes family dinners interesting sometimes."

"I bet it does. I was only there for a very short time, but in the year that I was there, you can tell that the biggest rivalry at Hogwarts is between Slytherins and Gryffindors," Hermione told them.

"Hades and I have never been to Hogwarts and we know you aren't lying. It's honestly hilarious," Bella said as the three of them headed inside. The Inu had decided to stay outside.

"Hey Dad," Hadrian called when they got into the house. He heard them call an answer from outside in the backyard. So, the three of them made their way to the backyard. "Good, you are both here. This is Bella's friend from school. Her name is Hermione, and she is from London. She went to Hogwarts her first year before they moved here."

"Oh, It is very nice to meet you, Hermione," Regulus responded.

He did not hold out his hand to shake hers because his hands were covered in soil. His dads were gardening today. They had a massive garden in the backyard. Half of the garden was for potions and the other half was for fresh things for Kreacher to cook with.

"I am Regulus, but you can call me Reg or Reggie I am Hadrian's bearer. This is Severus, My husband, and Hadrian's father. We were both born and raised in England," Regulus added.

"It is very nice to meet you both. I was very curious when Bella told me that Hadrian was being homeschooled. Is there any specific reason why he isn't allowed to attend Ilvermorny?" Hermione asked. Hadrian could tell she wasn't being rude. She just seemed genuinely curious.

"We want Hadrian to have the best opportunities growing up. So that when he is an adult he will have a legitimate education in both the muggle world and the magical. He attends muggle school here in Forks and is tutored on his magical education. He takes all of his exams in the educational department of the ministry, and we turn in all of the work that he did throughout the year so that they can make sure that he is getting an adequate education," Regulus answered. Hermione nodded.

"That makes so much sense. My parents were very concerned when they realized that the magical schools don't really cover the basics of a non-magical education. Maybe I will suggest to them that I do something similar but in reverse," Hermione stated.

"I was upset about it at first. I really wanted to go to school with Bella, but I have a routine now that works," Hadrian told her. "I understand the importance of having both educations now."

"It is a very smart thing to do," Hermione praised.

"Well, let's let my dads get back to their gardening. We can go play some exploding snap or go exploring through the woods. Maybe, show you around town or something," Hadrian told the girls. The three of them headed back to the front of the house.

"Let's explore the woods and then head into town. I know for a fact that Mione will just die when she sees your uncle's bookshop," Bella said and Hadrian watched as Hermione's eyes grew wide with excitement. Bella knew her friend very well. So, the three of them walked through the woods with Toga and Kimi walking with them.

"So how do you like living in Seattle?" Hadrian asked Hermione.

"Oh, I like it. I miss home, of course, but the magical world at least is more advanced and easier to live in. Diagon Alley is the most popular place to shop, and it is so old-fashioned. When school started it was in an old castle. It was beautiful of course, but definitely old. The headmaster was over a hundred years old and seemed a bit unhinged. He allowed a massive full-grown Cerberus to be housed inside the school," Hermione told them.

"Wait a minute, a full-grown Cerberus is taller than my house. It has three massive heads, and it is aggressive. Why would someone allow something like that in a school?" Hadrian interrupted. Hermione nodded and she looked shell-shocked.

"I saw it myself. Me and two boys in my dorm were walking after dinner one night and got caught on the moving stairs then some things happened, and we ended up in the room that was holding the Cerberus. It was all some elaborate test. One of the boys, Ron, was convinced that something was going on and that something was hidden under the trap door. He ended up dragging the other boy along with him after finding out how to get passed the Cerberus. It was awful. Ron ended up almost sliced in half during a life-sized game of wizard chess and..." Hermione took a deep breath and looked really sad for a moment.

"The other boy, Neville Longbottom, he died. He was beaten to death by a troll right after Ron was sliced nearly through. It was awful and with one boy died and one boy nearly dead they removed Dumbledore as headmaster, and he did not go quietly. Then somehow, it was sent out that he got his position back as headmaster and would be back the next year," Hermione told them as they continued to walk the trails through the woods.

"That sounds awful. I can't believe they would allow someone like that to be in charge of children. My dads told me a little bit about the kind of things that Dumbledore was willing to do back before I was born. Trust me that man is a horrible person," Hadrian told Hermione. She looked at him like she was really curious about that story. "I don't know the whole story. Only that the man did very illegal things to get his way and manipulated a bunch of people during a war.”

"He sounds terrible. How is he not in jail?" Bella asked. Hadrian and Hermione both shrugged.

"My dads tried everything to get him put in prison. They did get his positions as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and as the supreme mugwump of the ICW taken away, but I guess for some reason they have not been able to get him removed from the school which seems fishy," Hadrian told her. The three of them shrugged. Honestly, there wasn't much they could do about it and it wasn't really their problem.

"Well, at least your parents were smart enough to get you away from all of that instead of ignoring it and letting you continue to go to school there with a crazy person in charge," Bella stated.

"That is the truth. I am glad about the move. Ilvermorny is so much better than Hogwarts. The Americans actually integrated technology with magic and found a way for it to work together. Hogwarts is still in the dark ages. There are no crazy plots or dangerous animals and my parents, and I looked it up and there have been no student deaths at Ilvermorny in a hundred years and that one was an accident," Hermione told them.

They changed the topic to things that they were learning and things that they hoped to learn in the next year. Hadrian liked Hermione. She was really smart and a bit pushy, but Hadrian was fine with that because she seemed like a really good friend to Bella, and she seemed like someone Hadrian could become fast friends with also. They made their way back to the house and Hadrian ran inside to let his dads know that they were going to ride bikes to town and show Hermione around.

"Bella has a bike here that she uses and so does Jake. You can use his Hermione, he won't mind," Hadrian told Hermione as they headed for the shed that had the bikes locked up in it.

"Thank you," Hermione said and they all got the bikes out and mounted. Hadrian's Inu stepped up on either side of him and he grinned. "Are they coming with us? Won't they get tired?" Hermione asked.

Hadrian could tell that she was curious about his Inu because she had casually asked questions about them all day. Hadrian was going to let her borrow his books about them and let her learn about them herself.

"Yeah, they always come with us when we go into town without parents. They can keep up don't worry. They love it when we do this," Hadrian told her.

"They aren't dogs are they?" Hermione stated. Hadrian grinned and shook his head no. Bella laughed.

"Just watch. They really do love this. It actually is pretty borderline breaking the statute of secrecy. They are fast and don't get winded as far as we can tell," Bella told her friend.

"It is legal for you to own them right?" Hermione asked carefully.

"Yes, I bought them from the menagerie right there in Seattle and I have taken them with me to the ministry many times when I go visit my uncle," Hadrian told her.

"Oh, good. Well, let's get going then. I am excited to see this bookshop that your uncle owns," Hermione said and then the three of them were off with the Inu keeping pace easily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wow, you weren't kidding, they aren't even winded. They actually look even more energized if I am being honest," Hermione commented as they parked their bikes in front of Remus' shop.

"We told you, they love this kind of stuff," Hadrian told her and Bella nodded in agreement.

"Hadrian," Someone called and the three of them turned to see two girls making their way over to them. Hadrian sighed but smiled and waved.

"Hey, Jessica. Hi Angela. What are you girls up to today?" Hadrian asked.

When the girls got close to them, Jessica stepped close to Hadrian and put a hand on his arm. Hadrian smiled when he saw Angela roll her eyes. Angela knew Hadrian liked boys, and Jessica did too she just refused to acknowledge it.

"Oh, nothing just heading to hang out with Mike and the others. We are probably going to the park. Do you want to come?" Jessica asked, in what Hadrian assumed she thought was a sexy voice. He heard Bella barely stifle a giggle and had to work hard not to laugh.

"Aww, sorry Jess. Unfortunately, I am already busy today but maybe another time," Hadrian told the pushy girl and stepped back a bit so that he was closer to Bella and Hermione. Toga and Kimi also moved up and sat down on either side of him, which made Jessica take a step back. She did not like Hadrian's Inu at all. Hadrian loved it. He thought it was hilarious.

"Well," She sneered at the two girls as well as the dogs before plastering a smile back on her face and fluttering her eyes at Hadrian. "If you change your mind or get bored with your current company, the invitation is an open one. Hope to see you later, Hadrian." Then she walked off and Angela stepped forward.

"I am so sorry, Hadrian. I swear she just won't take a hint. I have tried to tell her so many times that you are not interested. It isn't exactly a secret that you don't like girls like that. Anyways it was good to see you, Hadrian. I hope we have classes together next year. Have fun with your friends," Angela said with a genuine smile and waved at the other girls. She also petted both Inu before walking off to catch up with Jessica.

"They are interesting," Hermione said with laughter. Bella snickered.

"It has always been like that. I spend every summer here and they still refuse to learn my name. Angela is nicer about it, but Jessica is a bit snobby. She hates me. She thinks that I am trying to date, Hadrian," Bella told Hermione as they made their way into the bookstore.

"Hey there, Pup. Bella, how are you today? Who is your friend? She looks like she might devour my store any moment," Remus asked from behind the counter. Hadrian looked and then busted out laughing at the look on Hermione's face.

"Hey, Uncle Mooney. This is Bella's friend from school, Hermione. She moved here last summer from England," Hadrian introduced.

"She likes to read. She lives in the library at school," Bella added.

"Well, feel free to browse, little scholar. I have a lot of really good books here," Remus said and then laughed as Hermione disappeared among the rows of books.

"I think we lost her," Hadrian said with a grin. The other two nodded.

"Probably should have come here last. I don't think we are going to get her out of here before we have to head back for dinner," Bella said. Hadrian agreed.

"It's alright you three can throw your bikes in the back of my truck and I will give you all a ride back to the house. I close up in two hours anyway. Sirius and I were invited to dinner tonight," Remus offered. "I just got a new shipment of books in, why don't you and Bella unpack them and help put them in the system and on the shelves while the bookworm works her way through my books."

"Sounds like a plan Mooney," Bella said, and then she and Hadrian disappeared into the back.

They had been right, Hermione did not surface until it was time to close up and she came to the front with a good selection of different books and was vibrating out of her skin. They helped Remus close up shop and then loaded up the bikes in his truck and the Inu as well as Hadrian climbed into the back and the girls rode up front with Remus.

Dinner that night was a lot of fun. Charlie had come back for it and then took the girls home with him when he left. Hadrian was glad he had decided to be open-minded about Bella's friend because he actually liked her and she seemed like the kind of friend that would keep Bella on track in school instead of in trouble.

Having her meet Jake was going to be hilarious. Hadrian couldn't wait until tomorrow.